High School Never Ends
by mosylu
Summary: Cursed with car trouble on her first day as a substitute, Caitlin is saved by a cute fellow teacher. But when she asks around, she doesn't get the best report card on Cisco Ramon. AU


This could not be happening.

Caitlin Snow turned the key again. The engine wheezed and coughed, but didn't turn over. "No," she said. "No, no, not today, oh my god."

She tried for a third time, then yanked the key out and climbed out of the car. She opened the hood and stared at the engine. This was about as far as she knew to go.

A car pulled into the spot next to her, and a man poked his head out the front window. "Car trouble?"

"I'm fine," she said automatically.

"Really? Because you kind of look like a damsel in distress." He turned his car off, hopped out, and came over.

He was young, Latino, wearing cords and a t-shirt with Captain America's shield, with a puckish face that looked like he was seconds away from bursting into laughter. He tucked his shoulder-length dark hair behind his ears as he peered at her engine. "Did it stall out?"

"No, it was running fine before I went to get coffee, but now it just won't start." She turned to him, her normal reticence overcome by her awareness that she had exactly half an hour to get to her first day of work. "Can you tell what's wrong?"

"Why don't you try starting it again - "

"I did," she growled.

" - and let me listen," he finished, apparently unflustered by her snarl.

She blushed, slid back into the driver's seat, and turned the key in the ignition. Cough, cough, wheeze, nothing.

He nodded. "Sounds like it might just be the battery, but if it's okay by you, I want to check a couple things before we try to jump her."

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble."

"Sure. No problem." He whistled to himself as he ducked under the hood, while she chewed her lip and checked her watch.

"Are you running late?" he called.

"Not yet, but if my engine doesn't start working within fifteen minutes I will be."

He popped his head around the hood and grinned at her. It was a very nice grin, wide and bright, with dimples. "Are you usually fifteen minutes early to work?"

"On my first day, I am."

"Ahhhhh," he said, coming around and leaning on the driver's side door, which she'd left open. "Okay, well, good news is, I do think it's just the battery. Your connectors were loose. I put them back, and probably all you need is a jump. You're pretty overdue for a new battery, but that'll get you where you're going today."

She let out her breath, then realized. "I don't have cables."

"Relax, I got you covered." He went back in his trunk and pulled out a set of jumper cables. He handed her the red one. "Hook that up to the positive sign - yep, good! Okay." He went and popped his own hood, then hooked his cables to his battery, then showed her where to attach the last clip.

He turned his car on. With the hood open, it was incredibly loud. "Okay!" he called out. "Start it up."

She tried the key again. When her car roared to life, she let out her breath in a whoosh.

He gestured for her to roll down her passenger-side window, and she did. He leaned in. "Sounds good."

"Thank you so much!"

"You should let it run for a little, just to build up a charge. Is that okay?"

Although she'd meant to arrive at least ten minutes early, she thought, _Well, I'm just going to sit in the office until the secretary shows me the room anyway._ "That's fine, I should have plenty of time."

"All right. Awesome." He disconnected his cables from both cars and closed the hoods. "I'll hang around for a few, just to be sure you're doing okay."

"This was really nice of you. Can I pay for your coffee or something?" _Maybe get your number?_ She willed herself not to blush. Where had that come from? She didn't do things like ask a strange guy for his number. But this guy didn't feel strange at all, with his matter-of-fact helpfulness and his bright smile.

"Ah, no, I've got my morning java already. I just can't pass up a damsel in distress."

"Well, as the damsel no longer in distress, I'm glad you did."

"Me too. So where you going to?"

"Kreisburg High School."

"What? No way!"

She blinked at him. "Oh my god. Are you - a student there?" Oh, no, no, no, had she been perving on a high-schooler? Possibly someone she was going to have in class in the next few hours?

He laughed out loud. "No. I'm a teacher."

"Really?"

He pulled a plastic ID card on a woven lanyard out of his pocket and handed it over. "Proof."

It said "FACULTY" in bright red letters. "I'm sorry, I - "

"It's okay, it's happened before. And I am pretty casual today. Most days, honestly. We do a lot of hands-on in my classes."

She looked back at the ID. It had a picture of him smiling hugely, and his name. "Cisco Ramon," she said.

"That's me. And you?"

"Caitlin Snow," she said, handing his ID back.

"Are you just subbing for the day?"

"It's a long-term assignment." And she'd been so relieved to get it. Subbing while she searched for teaching jobs was very hit-or-miss and her checking account was starting to show the strain.

"Long-term - whoa, are you filling in for Fred Chyre?"

"Uh, biology?"

"That's the one. You'll be around awhile. He had a heart attack in class last week."

"Oh!"

"Naw, he's going to be fine, they said. Just has to lay off the bacon double cheeseburgers. And rest up."

"As long as it wasn't the kids who gave him the heart attack."

Cisco laughed at that. "Nah, the kids are all right. I mean, they're kids, you know. Some of them are snots and some of them are awesome and most of them are both depending on the day. You do have a great student assistant for a couple of periods, though. Her name's Felicity, she's a senior."

"Oh, that's really good to know. Anything else you could fill me in on?"

He told her how to find the entrance to the teacher's lot (around back, behind the soccer field) and how to find the school librarian because she was never at her desk (text to her cell, and no, Laurel wouldn't be mad he'd given Caitlin the number), and to avoid the blueberry muffins in the teacher's lounge if Principal Singh's husband had made them. "Because serious, Rob's a great guy, but shop class could use them to hammer nails."

He checked his phone. "Well, it's probably been long enough for your battery and we've both got to get to school, so - I'm going to - " His fingers tapped out a pattern on her car door.

"Yeah, of course," she said, trying not to look disappointed. She'd see him at school, probably. Maybe. Though Kreisburg High was the biggest high school in the district. Depending on what he taught, they might never see each other again.

"So, uh," he said. "Listen. Chyre had his planning period right before his lunch hour and he was always taking long lunches. If you wanted, you could do the same today. Maybe go out somewhere? I could show you a few places? Because I scored that schedule too, this year."

She felt her whole body blush. Was this - it had to be. He'd asked her out. She couldn't remember the last time a guy had asked her out on ten minutes' acquaintance and she'd actually wanted to say yes.

He raised his brows at her, and she realized she still hadn't answered him. "Yes! I'd like that."

"Okay then. Let's - yeah. I'll come find you after fourth period." He scrunched his nose. "Which sounds so much like a student, oh my god."

She laughed. "I get it. See you then."

* * *

His tip about the teacher's lot meant that she walked into the office two minutes before the time that the sub system had emailed to her. If she hadn't known that, she probably wouldn't have figured it out until first bell. That two minutes was all the breathing room she had for most of the morning.

She was kept busy trying to follow Fred Chyre's spotty lesson plans, trying to learn the kids' names, and dealing with the usual BS that any sub had to put up with from a group of teenagers. She established her cool stare early enough in each class that most of the shenanigans fizzled out by halfway through, but when the bell rang, it put her right back at square one with the next group.

Still, she found the time to think about Cisco Ramon, and to wonder if she was doing the right thing, dating (possibly dating? it was just lunch) a fellow teacher. That was why she'd left her last job, after all. Nothing like a devastating breakup to make the teacher's lounge really awkward, especially when she had to see her replacement every day too.

Felicity Smoak turned out to be just as great as promised. Caitlin's sense of ethics battled with her curiosity about Cisco Ramon for most of third period, until she reasoned that it wouldn't be too tacky to ask what Felicity thought of him as a teacher. Right? It was perfectly reasonable to ask for a student's opinion of him as an educator.

So in the break between third and fourth period, she said casually, "Felicity, do you know Mr. Ramon?"

"Which one?" Felicity asked, looking up from the papers she was sorting. "There are two here."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they're brothers. One teaches physics and the other teaches auto shop. Excuse me." She rolled her eyes. " _Automotive technology._ "

Thinking of the easy, confident way that Cisco had handled her car, and his casual dress, and his comment that his classes were very hands-on, she said, "The auto-shop one."

"Oh. As - as a teacher? Or, like, a person?"

Caitlin's brows rose. Felicity's bright, open face had closed off. "A teacher, naturally."

"Well." Felicity fiddled with her ponytail. "He's okay. I've never had him but kids like him generally. Have you met him?"

"He helped me with my car this morning."

"Mmm." Felicity chewed her pen. "Well, then I should tell you, he's also got this reputation. As kind of - a player?"

Caitlin's stomach plummeted.

"Not like he ever hits on students," Felicity hurried to say. "Because, gross."

"And illegal."

"Totally. Just, one time I heard his brother talking to Mr. Allen, who teaches chem? About how he flirts with all the female teachers. That it's going to get him in trouble someday. And I know he hit on my friend Thea's mom at Parent Teacher conferences, and I don't think she was the only one. Did he hit on you?"

"A little bit, yeah." That vivid grin. That avowed inability to walk away from a damsel in distress. She'd been charmed. Had they just been part of his flirting arsenal?

"My advice? Nip that shit in the bud, Ms. Snow."

"Language, Felicity."

"Um. Sorry. That crap."

* * *

She spent fourth period with those words _kind of a player_ swirling around her brain, alongside _flirts with all the female teachers_. And he was hitting on moms, too? Felicity was right. She had to nip this shit in the bud.

So when a knock sounded on her doorjamb two minutes after the bell rang, she made sure she kept writing for a moment before looking up.

Cisco leaned in the doorway. He'd put a sport coat on over his t-shirt and tied his hair back, but it didn't detract from his bright grin. She felt herself being charmed again, and straightened her spine. "Hey," he said. "Ready for lunch?"

"Actually, I - " No, be firm. "I think I'm going to need my whole planning period to go over these lesson plans for the week. I'll just eat the lunch I brought."

His grin dissolved into confusion. "Oh. All right. Maybe tomorrow?"

"I - " Why did this feel cruel? He'd really done a number on her, in ten minutes fixing her car. "I don't think so."

The confusion slid into hurt for just a moment, and then he nodded. "Okay. Sure. Got it. You - um. You let me know if anything - anything changes, okay?"

"I don't think it will. I'm not going to be here that long, after all."

He bit his lip. "Yeah. No. Okay. I'll, uh, I'll see you around, then."

"Mhm." She bent over her notes again, staring at them until she heard the Converse sneakers pad away.

* * *

She still felt like scum when she locked up her room and went to lunch after her planning period. She told herself that she was just avoiding agony later on down the line, but it didn't help.

In the teacher's lounge, she poured herself coffee and started to take a muffin from a plastic-covered plate on the counter, then remembered what he'd said. "Where did these come from?" she asked the pretty black woman who walked up next to her.

"Grocery store, they're safe," the woman said readily, laughing. "Somebody already warned you about Rob's baking?"

"Mhm." She peeled the paper from the muffin and nibbled the edge.

"It's Caitlin Snow, right? The sub who's filling in for Fred?"

"Yes."

"I'm Iris West-Allen. Come on over and sit with us." She pointed at a table where a tall, skinny man was unpacking a bag and arranging its contents into two place settings.

"I wouldn't be intruding?"

"Oh, it's fine. We've been married two years, we're past the point where we're nauseatingly smoochy in public."

Iris taught journalism and yearbook, and her husband Barry taught chem. They were warm and friendly and in spite of Iris's claim, they were obviously madly in love. Iris bragged about how many of Barry's AP kids had aced the test last year, and Barry related the story of how Iris had dragged the school paper into the twenty-first century.

"Kicking and screaming," Iris said, rolling her eyes.

"No match for you," Barry said, and kissed her cheek.

Barry was telling her about some of the kids she could expect to have that afternoon - "the Rathaway kid's plenty smart, he's just a pill," - when Iris waved at somebody coming into the teacher's lounge. "Hey, Cisco!"

Caitlin wanted to slide under the table.

"Hey, guys," he said. When he saw Caitlin, his smile wavered into one that looked pasted on. "Hi. Caitlin."

"Hi," she murmured, staring at her lunch.

"Oh, you guys met already!" Barry said.

"Briefly," Caitlin said.

"Mmm," Cisco said, which could mean anything.

"Come on, sit down," Iris said, nudging out the chair in between Caitlin and Barry with her foot.

He shook his head. "I, uh, I'm just grabbing something to take back to my room. Some of the kids might come back for tutoring."

"Aww," Iris said, but let him go. "He's so good, you know? Fred never had lunch tutoring, not even for his AP kids, and Cisco lets anyone come to him for help, even if they're not in his class anymore."

"Wait a minute," Caitlin said. "AP?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Since when does auto shop have an AP option?"

Barry choked a little on his sandwich. "Auto - ? Cisco doesn't teach auto shop. That's his brother. Dante. Cisco teaches physics."

"Oh my god," she said blankly. "I'm such an idiot."

"Why?"

She looked up. Cisco was already headed for the door with a muffin and a cup of coffee. She briefly debated letting him go, but if she did, she might never get up the courage to apologize. So she called out, "Cisco!"

He paused next to their table. "Yeah?"

His expression looked pasted on again, not the open, warm smile that had charmed her so much this morning.

"I'm so sorry," Caitlin gabbled. "When I told you I didn't want to go to lunch - I thought you taught auto shop."

He frowned. "Was that the problem?"

"Wait," said Barry. "You guys were going to go to lunch?"

Cisco ignored him, crossing his arms. "And - what? Now I'm good enough because I teach physics?"

Out of context, that sounded awful. "No! I mean." She pressed her fingers to her hot face. "I asked Felicity about you - except she said there were two Mr. Ramons, and you were so good with my car - "

Barry said, "What about your car?"

Iris hissed at him.

Caitlin rushed on. "So I thought you were the one who taught auto shop, and she said that you - or your brother, I mean - was kind of - "

"A horndog?" Barry said.

"A man-slut?" Iris suggested.

"A player," Caitlin said.

Cisco sat down slowly, his mouth hanging open. "And there I was, asking you out ten minutes after we'd met."

"You did? Nice!" Barry held up his hand for a high-five.

Iris grabbed it instead and got up. "Honey, let's go get coffee."

"But - I wanna - "

" _Barry. Coffee_." She dragged him away.

"Wow." Cisco picked at the paper around his muffin. "Dante's screwed with my love life before, but never quite like this."

"I had a bad experience," she said quietly. "With a fellow teacher. At my last school."

He looked up. "A player?"

"Big time. He was cheating on me. With another teacher. But I still should've explained. Or been nicer about it."

"No, if I really had been my brother, shutting me down like that would've been the way to go. But honestly, that's so not me. I never just up and ask somebody out. I had a rough breakup, too, about six months ago, and I've sort of been on date hibernation. I just - I liked you so much."

"Past tense?" She held her breath.

The smile came back, his real one. "Past, present, future, too, I bet."

She found herself smiling back. "Well - if the invitation to lunch is still open… . ?"

"Mmm," he said. "That's gonna be difficult. Considering that we have like twenty minutes until next period. Why don't we make it dinner instead? Like - seven? Tonight?"

"That is definitely a date."

FINIS


End file.
